TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwanese smartphone vendor HTC Corp said on Tuesday a U.S. trade panel's final determination was a win for HTC and it is very pleased.

A company official told Reuters that HTC will launch new phones to bypass the infringed patent very soon and it sees limited impact to the company.

"This decision is a win for HTC and we are gratified that the commission affirmed the judge's determination on the '721 and '983 patents, and reversed its decision on the '263 patent and partially on the '647 patent," the world's No.4 smartphone company said in a statement.

"We are very pleased with the determination and we respect it. However, the '647 patent is a small UI experience and HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon."

The International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that HTC had infringed on one of Apple's patents and imposed a formal import ban on any HTC phones that infringe on the patent, starting April 19, 2012.

Assuming that the patent can be designed around (which seems likely), this decision was good for IDCC. First and foremost, they won't see a dramatic drop in their HTC royalties. Second, the patent war goes on between Apple and HTC. IDCC doesnt want either company to get an injunction which would dramatically increase the odds for a settlement. Better to have the companies still fighting with both at least considering buying a part or all of IDCC.

Thanks slacker. I agree. Thanks for putting it in a form that is easily understandable. Still, I'm thinking it's been too long for a sale to occur. Maybe a SA that teams IDCC with another entity that has complimentary patents with more leverage to licence the bigger companies or an outright purchase of a smaller company such as wilan that would compliment IDCC's patent portfolio giving IDCC more value. Course I could be wrong, but the "going on 6 months doesn't look good to me". Btw, 2 cents? I believe you gave your opinion away too cheap. :) mo.. nic

"Assuming that the patent can be designed around (which seems likely), this decision was good for IDCC. First and foremost, they won't see a dramatic drop in their HTC royalties. Second, the patent war goes on between Apple and HTC. IDCC doesnt want either company to get an injunction which would dramatically increase the odds for a settlement. Better to have the companies still fighting with both at least considering buying a part or all of IDCC. "

ITC Initial Ruling: Motorola Infringes Single Microsoft Patent, but Not Six Others December 20, 2011 at 2:12 pm PT

Microsoft won a partial victory in its patent dispute with Motorola, as the International Trade Commission issued an initial ruling that certain Motorola products infringe on one of the software maker’s patents. However, the same administrative law judge found no infringement of six other patents that Microsoft had claimed infringed on its intellectual property

“We are pleased with the ITC’s initial determination finding Motorola violated four claims of a Microsoft patent,” Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Howard said in a statement. “As Samsung, HTC, Acer and other companies have recognized, respecting others’ intellectual property through licensing is the right path forward.”

Tuesday’s ruling by an administrative law judge is one step in the process. The trade commission itself will now review the finding and issue a final ruling, at which time it will decide whether to ban the import of any Motorola products.

The ruling follows a separate decision on Monday by the commission that certain HTC phones infringe on an Apple patent. In that decision, a final ruling by the commission (though still subject to court appeal) ordered that HTC products using the infringing technology be banned for import, as of April. HTC has said it plans to drop the feature in dispute.

Both cases are among a growing docket of patent disputes involving much of the mobile industry. A key issue for the industry is whether Google’s freely available Android operating system infringes on patents held by Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and others.

Update: In an interview, Motorola General Counsel Scott Offer said the company is pleased with Tuesday’s ruling.

“We view it as a huge win for us,” Offer told AllThingsD. “They had, originally, nine patents in their first case. They are down to one patent, effectively.”

As to that one patent, Offer said that it relates to how mobile devices process meeting requests via email.

“We are reviewing our options on that,” he said.

Tuesday’s decision now goes before the full commission, which typically issues its ruling within two months, though that can be extended, as was the case with Apple and HTC.

For now, Offer said, Motorola wants to keep the focus on its products rather than the court battle.

“We feel we’ve got great products and we are focused on our product portfolio.”

An industry analyst argues more expensive LTE devices are a certainty because manufacturers will have to consider the many frequencies carriers want to run it on. Read why others disagree The plethora of spectrum bands used for LTE (Long-Term Evolution) will result in more expensive devices, and also make the ability to roam globally using the technology less likely, according to the Wireless Intelligence, the research arm of the industry group GSM Association.

Wireless Intelligence predicts there will be 38 different spectrum frequency combinations used in LTE deployments by 2015, thanks to ongoing spectrum auctions, license renewals and reallocation initiatives across a wide range of frequency bands, it said on Friday in a new report entitled "Global LTE Network Forecasts and Assumptions -- One Year On."

That fragmentation will have several repercussions, according to Joss Gillet, senior analyst at Wireless Intelligence and author of the report. The number of combinations means economies of scale won't be as good and prices won't come down as much as they could if fewer spectrum bands were used as volumes increase, Gillet said.

Today, an LTE-equipped smartphone costs about twice as much as a 3G-based device, which means operators have to heavily subsidize them to drive the market. But that isn't possible for operators to do in all parts of the world, because the average revenue per user is much lower than in, for example, the U.S.

Spectrum fragmentation also makes it more complicated and expensive to manufacture smartphones that can connect to the Internet using LTE all over the world.

Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa are the regions that will use the widest variety of spectrum combinations, while the situation in the U.S. and western Europe will be less complicated.

In Canada, BCE Inc.'s Bell Mobility and Rogers Communications are deploying LTE on AWS spectrum in the 1700 and 2100 Mhz bands. Telus Communications Corp. will join them in the new year. The trio also plan to use LTE on the 700 Mhz spectrum that is expected to be auctioned off late next year, and possibly also on the 2500 MHz spectrum that will be auctioned either at the same time or separately. Not everyone agrees that spectrum fragmentation is the biggest problem facing the rollout of LTE. The ongoing development of more advanced chipsets will bridge the problems created by fragmentation, according to Bengt Nordstrm, co-founder and CEO of market research company Northstream.

He instead objects to the auctioning of spectrum. Governments are in effect taking money from operators that instead could be used for a more rapid rollout of LTE networks, Nordstrm said.

Iain Grant, managing director of the Montreal-based SeaBoard Group, is also a doubter. "A key benefit of LTE is the ability for a carrier to mix and match bands, which brings new flexibilities and efficiencies," he said in an email. "Added radio capacity may add a few dollars to unit costs, but is more than made-up for by the flexibilities that will allow carriers to do much more with radio resource."

"we continue to believe that mobile software and hardware patents generally have easier workarounds than wireless patents. Unless companies have portfolios in all three areas, they are likely to embroiled in the patent wars, we believe however that wireless patents will be the primary battleground. . While apple has some wireless patents from the Nortel patent auction, we see Apples patent strength as mainly in the software and hardware areas"

I don't have a bit of valid information, but due to the time delay and lack of information coupled with the rumblings and constant message board and media chatter along with the shareprice action, I'm hopefully expecting a sale or a positive SA before the end of January. Think I'll hold off on January calls however. .. mo.. nic

Summary: Pegatron, maker of the CDMA iPhone 4s, is producing an “estimated” 15 million next-gen iPhones for Apple by September, according to DigiTimes.

DigiTimes is reporting Taiwanese laptop manufacturer Pegatron Technology (former maker of Asus notebooks) has received an order from Apple for an “estimated” 15 million next-gen iPhone to be ready for shipping by September, according to “sources from upstream component makers”.

It is unclear if Pegatron is being contracted to build the iPhone 4S or the iPhone 5, as some analysts believe Apple is pursuing a two-phone strategy, but as of last month it seemed unlikely that Apple would be able to produce multiple models all with the same September deadline.

This latest rumor from DigiTimes changes all that, especially if the anonymous source is correct that the new iPhone “does not seem to have any major update from iPhone 4,” which suggests Pegatron is making iPhone 4S, with another manufacturer (like Foxconn) possibly handling production for the iPhone 5. Or there could just be one phone from Apple this September, whatever its name.

After all, according to DigiTimes‘ July 1 report, Apple is only working on one iPhone and just added iPad 3 (rather than a second iPhone) to the production schedule, as reported by our friends at Between the Line.

Pegatron has worked with Apple before, as maker of the CDMA iPhone 4s back in 2010 (though less than four million units were shipped due to poor sales in the first quarter of 2011), so it is possible for the company to be on contract with Apple again. The question is just what exactly will Pegatron be making in its factories — will it be the iPhone 4S or the 5?

A court in Mannheim, Germany, ruled in February 2009 against HTC in a patent fight with IPCom, allowing an injunction against sales of HTC phones using UMTS technology and setting a penalty of up to 250,000 euros ($326,200) each time the injunction was contravened.

All HTC smartphones use UMTS technology.

In late November, a court in Karlsruhe, Germany, said the injunction against HTC smartphone sales in Germany could be enforced after HTC dropped an appeal.

IPCom said in a statement on Thursday that it sent 100 retailers cease and desist requests on December 6, asking them to stop selling HTC's 3G handsets by December 20.

"Since this deadline has passed without any of the retailers complying, IPCom has sued them for infringement of patent #100A themselves," IPCom said, adding so far it has sued around 30 retailers.

The legal battle could cost HTC millions of euros and hurt its relations with retailers in one of its key markets.

The company sells around 2 million smartphones a year in Germany, some 4-5 percent of the group's total, according to research firm IDC.

"This poses another challenge for HTC in managing confidence of key distribution partners -- a further reminder of the destabilization effect patent claims threaten to exert on the industry in 2012," said Geoff Blaber, analyst at research firm CCS Insight.

HTC was not immediately available to comment.

It has said the battle would have no impact on its business in Germany because the injunction covered only one HTC handset - which is no longer sold in Germany - and it has also modified its implementation of the UMTS standards.

The ruling does not mention any particular model.

Earlier this week HTC lost a patent case against Apple in the United States, the market generating half of its revenues, but HTC said that it could soon replace phones with the disputed technology with new models.

IPCom acquired Bosch's mobile telephony patent portfolio, created between the mid-1980s and 2000, which includes about 160 patent families worldwide, including some of the key patents in the wireless industry, such as patent 100, which standardizes a cellphone's first connection to a network.

Several of the top phone makers have signed a licensing deal with it, but HTC and Nokia have challenged IPCom's technology patents in courts across Europe.

IPCom said by continuing to use its patents without paying a fair compensation IPCom could in the future legally refuse HTC a license for its standard-essential patents.